Stupid Love

12

I woke up to my alarm blaring. For the first time I reach over and hit snooze, and look at the clock. It reads 4:00 am. I lay to my side as my legs and arms burn. My head spins as if it was a tea cup ride from an amusement park. I flip my legs and turn to the other side of the bed when I move my face right into someone's head. I'm startled and sit up to try and recognize who it was. It was Joey, I had to rub my eyes to confirm it and it was indeed her. I roll over and get out of bed to hear.

"Please don't leave,"

"I'm just gonna let you sleep." I whisper back to her.

"Where are you going though?" Joey drowsily says.

"No where." I respond while sitting down at my desk, turning on my reading light and dimming it to not attract that much light. I move it to the left side of the desk to point it away from the bed. I picked up a book that I didn't recognize until I flipped it to the first page.

"I just moved to Cheyenne Wyoming today, we live on a very bland street. They look the same from the front like a cult." I closed the book realizing it was Joey's. I put it into the corner of the desk, not wanting to invade her privacy. I saw a book on psychology and a sticky note on top that says "This is for you son, I'm sorry."

I rolled my eyes, and sighed.

"Thank you for last night Corbs." Joey whispers.

I look over to the bed and she's sitting up against the wall, fixing her hair. Her curly hair was now floppy and expanded. Her bed head was adorable to me, as I looked at her still sleepy face. She is giving me a smile. 'I just slept for 10 hour smile'. I smile back at her, mustering the courage to say something romantic.

"I had fun, thank you for letting me show you the town. I haven't been able to take a girl around the town since-" I stopped and the room went dark and I started getting a flashback of my old job. My room and Joey fade into the background as I see the facility of my old job. I see "Cheyenne Fun Center" in big red letters on a big screen above a sign that says "Birthdays and Reservations" . I turn and see an Arcade full of games but they had bags or protective sheets on them. I saw a couple of teenagers running around them and I saw me.

I tilt my head and realized I was reliving the day I met Mia. I saw as I was taking the sheets off the games while cleaning and fixing up the ones that I remembered were broken. I saw my manager walk up to me and introduce me to Mia. I got so red and stuttered, for a guy who can keep calm in high pressure situations I surely couldn't when around a pretty girl. I smile as I realize I still have that issue.

Everything changes as I see that now I'm in my room texting someone. I walked over to see who I was texting, and it was Mia. I look over to my previous self; smiling and giggling every time I get a text from her. This was the night me and her talked until 3 am. Looking back on it, I should've done more. I watched as she called me and I freaked out and threw my phone up in the air. I saw myself as my legs and teeth shivered so slightly. I picked up the phone and answered her. I watched myself answer as the room felt alive and happy, I held back trying not to remember any of this but I didn't have any control, I had to watch myself in every bright moment with her. I feel myself move to the back of my car, I see myself in the driver's seat and Mia in the passenger's seat. We were going to the coffee shop and singing along to her music. I looked out the window as the only thing I could see were cars driving by but no people, the buildings and cars just made everything a colored background. Everything seemed focused only when I looked at me and her. I looked to the front of the car to see that I gave Mia the same look I gave Joey when she wasn't paying attention. I can hear myself think "Kiss her, say you love her." I couldn't hold back as a tear fell from my eye and onto my cheek. It rests on my cheek not moving when I watched as I smiled at Mia and then said "Do you wanna get lunch while we're out and about?" I wanted to punch myself. I just wanted to reach to the driver's seat and punch myself into a black hole.